For TIME’s May 21 cover story (available to subscribers here), I explored the personal history and legacy of Dr. Bill Sears, the father of a child-rearing philosophy called attachment parenting. As the author of 40-plus books on parenting and pregnancy, Sears is a familiar figure to many American mothers and fathers. Some parents subscribe to his theory that attachment parenting — characterized by extended breast-feeding, co-sleeping and wearing your baby in a sling across your body — is the best way to raise confident, secure children. Others think Sears is an antifeminist tyrant, or that his ideas are just totally unrealistic.

Sears’ most well-known parenting manual, a purple 767-page tome called The Baby Book, is ubiquitous, but his own story is not. In reporting this article for TIME, I was intrigued to find out how little had been written about Sears’ upbringing or how he came up with his parenting theories in the first place.

It turns out that he and his wife Martha had written a lot of earlier books about attachment parenting before The Baby Book, including one with an evangelical approach. I also came across a book the Searses wrote in 1982 based on another book called The Continuum Concept, which I traced back to a college dropout who had become fascinated by child care in the Venezuelan jungle. “We read the book and thought, Well, this is neat,” says Sears.

When I interviewed Bill and Martha Sears at their home in Southern California, we talked for a long time about their childhoods — neither of which resembled the kind of idealized environment the couple imagines for their supporters. Bill’s father abandoned him when he was a baby; Martha’s father died when she was young, and her mother suffered from mental illness. Their childhoods seemed to be lacking in affection and parental bonding, the very tenets of their teachings.

I began to realize that Bill Sears’ theories are based not only on his experience as a pediatrician and father, as most of his readers assume, but also on the work of others and on the Searses’ own upbringings as Midwestern Catholics. Martha acknowledged this in our interview: “You could say I’m reacting to my background.”

As I spoke with parents, especially mothers, about their parenting styles, I found that even those who didn’t know Bill Sears by name had been touched by the phenomenon of attachment parenting — whether as practitioners of some of its tenets or as critics. TIME’s May 21 cover story introduces readers to Sears, the man whose influence has shifted mainstream American parenting and brought us to a point where mothering requires more physical and emotional investment than perhaps ever before.

i thing About the comment made at the end of the video: "...no evidence to show that wearing your baby in a sling or sleeping with your baby is really going to change how they turn out when they are kids or later when they are adults..."

About the comment made
at the end of the video: "...no evidence to show that wearing your baby in
a sling or sleeping with your baby is really going to change how they turn out
when they are kids or later when they are adults..."

Do we have to get a
scientific research done about everything in order to have evidence provided to
make a conclusion - even for those simply most common sense matters especially
when it comes to every day life and those we witness around us
continually.

Shouldn't we all be
able to make a conclusion on our own instead of waiting for another scientist
to provide evidence for what's been obvious on this planet for ever: If I am
loved and being taken nice care of, there is more chance that I will turn out to be
a better and happier person. Haven't we all seen at least one animal taking
care of their brood, patting them, being physically close to them? Why would
human beings be any different - just ! because there is no scientific evidence
supporting the obvious fact!?

Common sense: Could we
ask ourselves a simple question: when
I need protection and nourishment, would I like to be close to my mother (the
only person I know ) as often and as long as reasonably possible, or
would I rather not?

Common sense: Every
good and perfect thing, when done too much/long...may turn out to be harmful or
bad. There may be less chance
that sleeping with a baby all the time for months or years, or wearing a
baby in a sling all they long, will create a healthy relationship between them
or a have the baby grow to be a healthy adult. Even the best meal in the world
will cause some damage to our system sooner or after, if that's the only meal
we eat every day. How can I prove this will happen to everyone. I cannot. But
my common sense tells me it is more possible that it will, than that
it will not.

A balance of
ingredients, timing and duration is what we all need in our all life activities, including raising and
loving our babies.

Dear Kate,

I felt that your
comment at the end, even if you did not maybe mean it, could cause many of us
(especially young first time mothers) to think that these two methods are not
really beneficial for their babies, or even, that being physically close to our
babies is not important, and then, they might decide not to try them in their
process of learning how to form a strong emotional bond with their little ones
(Dr W Sears attachment parenting).

I'd like, witnessing
lots of mothers being confused and misinformed, to point out that these two methods
are some of a many ideas how a
parent can provide a baby with emotional and physical, and! mental support to
have them grow happily and harmoniously.

How they will turn out
later will depend "on the village" (it takes a village to raise a
child :):).

The article isn't horrible, but the video is pretty bad. There are more than 3 tenets of attachment parenting. Also those practicing attachment parenting correctly will not find it exhausting. Do what is right for you!

I found this article inaccurate and surely trying to paint Sears with a specific image "evangelist approach", which to the many reading the "Times" I would guess this phrase has a negative connotation.

To be specific, the article forgets to mention that the Baby Book makes an association to Sudden Death Syndrome and certain parenting patterns. The book even gives a link to recent studies and more information on that topic.

The book also reveals, more than once, that the Sears family did not raise their first children with their "attachment parenting" method. But it was their 3rd child who brought into question their preconceived ideas of raising children and where their attachment theory was first put into practice with successful results.

Not to mention, the 30 years + of practice as a pediatrician...

Sorry, but your research for this article was very poor or you are purposely changing some facts.